The Flavour's The Thing
by ChibiBoko
Summary: Rating is like that because I'm cautious. This is my entry for Juvi's contest! Yaoi, K/B, Y/Y, various others. Poor Yugi...


A/N: Okays, this is my entry for juvi's fic contest! I had a lot of fun with this one. Hehehe.. ^_^  
  
Yami R: What is with you and candy lately? First bubblegum, and now this.  
  
A/N: Everyone, I'd like to introduce my muse/Yami/conscience who bitches at me until I write more, Yami R. And yeah, I guess I have been on a bit of a sugar kick lately. But I've been sick; sweet stuff tastes weird to me right now and so I can't have any. Call it my way of dealing with deprivation. It's either that or my sweet tooth.  
  
Yami R: So I guess chocolate's next then?  
  
A/N: ..!... Hey yeah! I can see it now, Kaiba covered in chocolate fudge...with whipped cream and a cherry....  
  
Yami R: I was being sarcastic, in case it escaped you.  
  
A/N: .....and Yami licks it allll off.....@_@ *thud*  
  
Yami R: *Sigh* There she goes again. Why did I have to get stuck with an author who is a chronic nosebleeder?  
  
A/N: I am not a chronic nosebleeder! *sits up and glares indignantly*  
  
Yami R: Then stop the hentai thoughts! We're running out of sponges.  
  
A/N: Sure, when the muse who's coming up with them cuts it out.  
  
Yami R: ....  
  
DISCLAIMER: I own none of it. So there's no point in suing; all you'll get is some used sponges.  
  
I'm gonna be lazy and refer to Yami Bakura as just Bakura. Saves my poor fingers some strain that way. Ryou will just be Ryou. Um, anything else? ...I can't think of anything, so what are you still reading this for? Get to the story already!! All these stares are making me self-conscious...  
  
~oO0@0Oo~ = flashbacks  
********* = scene change  
/.../ Yugi to Yami, //...// Yami to Yugi, ||...|| Bakura to Ryou, |...| Ryou to Bakura  
  
...Oh yeah! I remember what I was forgetting now! Malik is in this fic, but he's most likely REALLY ooc, because I live in Canada and haven't seen the Battle City episodes yet!! *cries* So feel sorry for me...  
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The Flavour's The Thing  
by ChibiBoko  
  
  
Joey glared down at the slip of paper before him. Try as he might, the meanings of the formulas written on it simply wouldn't translate for him. Growling in frustration, he squinted at the paper until he was practically cross-eyed, willing the ink to transform into sense. Natta; apparantly the ink was glare-proof. Maybe he should recruit Bakura....  
  
"I don't know how Ryou does this," he sighed. Running a hand through his hair, he dug in his heels and steeled himself for the ordeal.  
  
"Okay, heat 3/4 pot of water to a boil, add oil and salt..." He paused, "what the heck's a 3/4 pot? Does Ryou have any that size? Gah! I can't stand this!"  
  
He slammed his head on the counter. "I'm never gonna get through this," the blond whimpered. "Alright, one more time..." he rubbed his head. "...But first, I need some Advil..."  
  
Just then the doorbell rang.  
  
"I'm coming, I'm coming!" He yelled as whoever was there kept ringing the bell impatiently. Which did nothing for Joey's poor head.  
  
The door opened just as he entered the hall and he only had time to register a yellow, black and red blur before it pounced on him, driving them both to the floor.  
  
"Where is it?!" Joey could feel his brains being shaken out from the two small hands at his shirt collar. "What did you do with it!"  
  
"Uh..whaa?" Joey tried.  
  
A voice came from near the door. "Aibou, he may be able to answer better if you stop shaking him so much."  
  
Yugi blinked. "Oh. Right." He quickly got off Joey's prone form and held a hand out to his friend. "Sorry about that Joey," he apologized embarassedly, "I guess I'm a little frantic."  
  
Joey accepted the help up. "A little? I couldn't breathe! What's gotten into you, Yug? The crazy one is usually Yami."  
  
"Watch it." Yami warned.  
  
"...Bakura!" The blonde amended. "I meant Yami Bakura! Ya know, you should really let people finish their sentences, Yami." He mock-admonished. "By the way, where is he? I haven't seen him since he left yesterday. Said he didn't want to catch Ryou's 'godforsaken cold.'" He grimaced. "His words."  
  
"Actually, yesterday is sort of what we're here about, Joey."   
  
Joey scratched his head. "Eh? How come?"  
  
"It's a long story." Yami looked long-suffering at his hikari. "Is Ryou around? I'd rather we didn't have to go over this twice."  
  
"Eh, well, he's sorta still in bed..." Joey looked kinda sheepish.  
  
"This late?" Yugi asked curiously.  
  
"Well, he's sorta..gotten a little worse." Joey coughed. "I'm looking after him since his old man's away at an excavation dig for a couple days."  
  
Yugi shook his head. "Well, we'll just ask you then."  
  
"Ask me what?"  
  
Yugi blinked. "Didn't I tell you? I'm pretty sure I told you."  
  
"You didn't tell him." Yami sighed.  
  
"Oh!" Yugi blushed. "Well, I kinda accidentally lost something yesterday, and I can't find it anywhere! Yami and I searched the Game Shop-"  
  
"Everywhere." Yami interjected morosely.  
  
Yugi looked up at him. "Well of course we had to look everywhere; it could have been anywhere. Although I'm pretty sure there wasn't any way it could have been in grandpa's research magazines." He frowned at his yami.  
  
"If that's what he told you they were, Aibou, you really need to get out more. I was only checking to make sure he didn't use it for a bookmark."  
  
"For every page?" The frown morphed into a glare. "You need to learn to respect people's property."  
  
"And you need to learn to-"  
  
Joey looked back and forth between the two. "'Scuse me for interrupting here, but what did ya lose Yug?"  
  
Twin sets of amethyst looked at him, one pair saddened, the other exasperated.  
  
"I lost my.." Yugi sniffled, "my candy cane."  
  
Joey blinked at him. Yami just rolled his eyes.  
  
"I still don't see why you just don't buy another one to use."  
  
Yugi spun back to him. "It's not just any candy cane, Yami! It's an industrial-size, one-of-a-kind! I've been using that candy cane for years! The flavour evolves over time, and I *finally* finished off the hook!"  
  
"I know, Yugi. I helped you, remember?"  
  
Joey pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes. "Ya know, I think I actually could have gone through the rest of my life without knowing that."  
  
"Sorry, Joey." Yugi's eyes teared up. "I really don't know what's wrong with me. But just thinking about my poor baby out there alone somewhere in that big bad world-"  
  
"It's a candy cane, aibou." Joey got the feeling they've been hashing over this for a while now.  
  
"But's it's...it's different! No cane has that tanginess to it!" Yugi's lip quivered.  
  
"Personally, I've always found it to be quite sweet." Yami mused.  
  
"Different tastes for different people, I guess." Joey shrugged. "So when did you notice it was missing?"  
  
"Er," Yami looked to Yugi, who squirmed.   
  
"Um.."  
  
~oO0@0Oo~  
  
Slender hands fumbled with a buckled shirt. Another pair buried themselves in dark-tinted hair. Breathing was optional, coming only in quick, heavy gasps when their lips pulled apart.  
  
Pressed together so hard, so tight, it was hard to discern where one ended and the other began. But then, wasn't it always that way?   
  
Couldn't think, couldn't speak, only feel, touch. Taste.  
  
//So sweet,// Yami thought breathlessly, //you taste so sweet, Yugi.//  
  
/..Yami../   
  
The pharoah looked down into his hikari's passion-dazed eyes. He loved how he could do this to him, that he was the only one who could do this to him.   
  
Leaning down he slowly licked the corners of Yugi's mouth, tantalizing until he finally slipped in, an invasion Yugi welcomed. Pulling the darker one down to him he deepened the kiss, tongues dueling for supremecy.  
  
Yami won, as always. Sometimes Yugi even let him.   
  
Nipping his way up the outline of Yugi's jaw, Yami circled the delicate shell of the boy's ear before drifting down to the silky temptations of that junction between neck and shoulder.   
  
Small fingers slid slightly beneath the leather waistband of his pants and gently tugged, startling Yami to looking up into wide, not-so-innocent-at-the-moment eyes.  
  
"Play?" Yugi whispered, barely able to draw breath thanks to Yami's ministrations.  
  
Yami's eyes widened, then narrowed as he gave the boy beneath him a laviscious smirk. Nodding, he drew back just enough to fumble around on the nightstand, searching.  
  
Yugi lay against the pillows, giggling as Yami's fumbling search became more and more frantic.  
  
The dark pharoah actually got up off the bed to search the floor around the stand, the top of the dresser, Yugi's schoolbag...  
  
"Something wrong?" Yugi leaned up on his elbows, letting his chin rest on his chest as he pouted playfully at Yami for leaving.  
  
"I can't find it." Came Yami's muffled response as he dug through the very back of the closet.  
  
Yugi sat up straight. "What?"   
  
Yami's head reappeared from his closet search. "I can't find it, aibou." He looked apologetic.  
  
"But, but.." Yugi scrambled off the bed to look underneath it, in hopes that they had simply dropped it from the last time. Not there. "It HAS to be here, Yami!"  
  
~oO0@0Oo~  
  
"Um, I think it was this morning." Yugi desperately fought down his blush. Yami looked inexplicibly interested in an african curio hanging on the wall.  
  
Joey thought about asking, paused, then re-thought that if he asked, they'd tell him. Probably. He kept quiet.  
  
"So," He cleared his throat. "So you think you might've left it here yesterday?"  
  
They both nodded.  
  
Joey scratched his head, thinking. "Well I don't think I remember seeing something like that lying around here." He said a moment later. "Maybe Ryou knows. I'll go see if he's awake." He jogged up the stairs, Yugi and Yami quietly tailing him.  
  
"Hey, Ryou?" Joey knocked softly on the open door as he entered the room. "You up?"  
  
The blankets on the bed shifted, and a pair of chocolate eyes tiredly peeked out at them. "Joey?" Ryou murmured sleepily, "Is it lunchtime already?"  
  
"Nah, sorry buddy. Ran into a problem with that. But Yug 'n Yami are here; they wanna know if ya found any big candy canes lying around."  
  
Ryou frowned, rubbing his forehead as he tried to think back to yesterday. "I don't think...oh!" His illness-dimmed eyes brightened slightly. "I do remember finding one yesterday. It was while Bakura and Malik were playing around with that noodle strainer."  
  
Yugi blushed at the memory of *that*. "Um, yeah, I think we all remember that incident." He looked anxiously at his sleepy friend. "Do you remember where you saw it?"  
  
Ryou nodded. "I remember when I walked out of the kitchen, something on the coffee table caught my eye. Looking over, I saw this really big candy cane. Only it actually looked like a candy stick, since the hook was-"  
  
"Gone, we know." Joey hastily interjected.   
  
"Well, I thought it was Joey's, and figured he wouldn't mind, so I..tried it." Ryou looked down at his hands, not noticing Yugi and Yami's faces were looking a little...strange. Sort of that deer-in-headlights type of look. "It had this most amazing tangy taste to it." Ryou looked up at Yugi. "What flavour is that? I couldn't quite place it, though I enjoyed it very much."  
  
Yami looked absolutely mortified. Yugi had turned to the side and was coughing frantically.  
  
"Um, I don't really know, Ryou." Yugi could *not* look at the other boy. "I sorta got it as a gift...a long time ago."  
  
"Oh." The white-haired teen looked a little disappointed. "Well, I suppose it's not really that important."  
  
Yami looked up gratefully. "That's right! What *is* important right now is finding Yugi's lost cane. Where did you put it?"  
  
Yugi gazed at Ryou hopefully.  
  
"I just put it back on the coffee table-" Ryou didn't finish his sentence as Yugi had raced to the living room at about the fourth or fifth word. Yami trailed after him with a sigh. "-But I don't remember seeing it there when I was cleaning up afterward." He looked up at Joey.  
  
Joey scratched his head. Again. Maybe the poor boy has lice. Or fleas. "Alright with you if we search?"  
  
"Of course," Ryou wagged a finger at him. "But put everything back in place, you hear?"  
  
The blond teen leaned down to lightly kiss the extended finger before laughing amiably as he exited the room. "We'll try, anyway."  
  
He reached the bottom stair when he heard a heart-rending wail coming from the living room. Dashing to the open entryway, he gaped to see Yugi in Yami's lap on the floor amidst a pile of couch cushions, sobbing into Yami's shoulder, who was looking over Yugi's head towards him uncomfortably.  
  
"We couldn't find it." He said by way of explanation as he hugged Yugi.  
  
"Yeah, Ryou told me he didn't see it in here when he cleaned up after everyone left."  
  
"Everyone?" Yugi's head lifted up suddenly and he had this faraway look in his eye. "Yami?"  
  
"Hm?" Yami answered distractedly. Well, Yugi *was* in his lap, if he shifted a little just there.....  
  
"Do you think one of the others accidentally got it mixed up with their stuff?"  
  
That snapped Yami out of his little fantasy. "My god." He looked down at Yugi in horror.  
  
Joey replaced one of the couch cushions and sat down. "Well, it is possible. I mean, everyone's stuff had been pretty strewn around the place."  
  
"Thank Malik for that." Yami frowned. "It took me a whole hour to find that my jacket had been hanging haphazardly from the ceiling fan."  
  
Yugi giggled a little at that. "It was kinda funny watching you try to get it down."  
  
Yami glared at him.  
  
Joey coughed. "Yeah so, who's stuff was by the coffee table?"  
  
Yugi leaned his elbows on the coffee table as he put his head in his hands, rolling his eyes back in concentration. "I think...it was ..Mai's? No...!" He beamed up at the other two. "A briefcase! I remember almost sitting on a briefcase on the couch, so I moved it next to the coffee table."  
  
Yami put his head in his hands. "It would be Kaiba." He groaned.  
  
Yami twisted around to look up at Yami curiously. "What do you mean?"  
  
"Aibou, don't you remember when he left last night?" The pharoah spoke into his hands.  
  
Yugi crossed his arms, thinking. "Hmm," He shook his head. "No, I don't. Why?"  
  
Yami rubbed his face, trying to avoid the wrong words; Yugi could be obtuse about the strangest things. "You've noticed Bakura isn't here, right?"   
  
"Obviously." Yugi snorted.  
  
"Well, last night I saw him and Kaiba leaving at the same time."  
  
The smaller boy shifted into a more comfortable position on Yami's lap, dragging the darker one's thoughts down a stray path for the nth time that day. "Yeah? Tea and Mai did that too."  
  
Yami wasn't about to go into *that* today...  
  
"They left together, is what he's talking about, Yug." Joey put in. Yami looked up at the blond, both grateful and exasperated. It seemed to be his standard blend for the day.  
  
"What's that......" Yugi trailed off as it finally sunk into his poor sugar-deprived brain. "...oh."  
  
Yami nodded wearily.  
  
************************  
  
Bright sunlight drifted in to hit Kaiba right in the eyes. Groaning, he burrowed underneath the pillow, trying to catch the fading wisps of that last heady dream.  
  
A really, really good dream, he smiled. The best in a while.   
  
He finally gave up on the idea of sleeping some more and pulled the pillow off his head as he rolled onto his side. He winced; must've slept wrong last night...  
  
That inane thought trailed off as his eyes rested on the lithe pale body tangled in the sheets beside him.  
  
Seto blinked. "So, it wasn't a dream," he murmured as he ran a gentle hand through his bedmate's snowy locks. Silky....  
  
He smirked in remembrance as the entire night came back to him.  
  
~oO0@0Oo~  
  
Kaiba slammed the door to his bedroom as he practically tore off his ever-present trenchcoat. He needed a cold shower, badly. One more minute watching that dark one of Ryou's and...  
  
He stopped that thought there as his pants threatened to tighten past the point where circulation would be cut off.  
  
Growling, he rummaged through his closet for something clean, and loose, to wear after his shower.  
  
"That looks uncomfortable." Came a murmur from his back as two lean arms wrapped around his waist. Kaiba froze as Bakura turned the taller boy around to face him and that knowing smirk. The bastard knew exactly what effect he had on him. Seto mentally swore in several languages.  
  
That smirk widened as Bakura let his hands to wander slowly down to the other's belt. "Allow me to make it worse."   
  
Kaiba's eyes went wide as pale hands played at his waist. Grabbing hold of them to stop their torturous fumbling, he growled, "I thought you were into tormenting people, not..."  
  
"I am." Bakura crushed his mouth against Kaiba's, surprising a muffled groan out of the restrained teen. Drifting downward, Bakura sent tiny shocks through the other's system as he nipped a little hard at the skin just below his ear, down his neck, his collarbone...  
  
Kaiba was too caught up in following these sensations to notice the other had managed to free one hand, until he felt it tugging slightly on his shirt as Bakura impatiently unbuttoned the cloth, all the while never ceasing the trail of bites and kisses as he went lower, past his chest, to his stomach where the dark one paused to swirl his tongue slowly around his naval and dip in slightly, before travelling further downwards.  
  
"Bakura," Kaiba rasped.  
  
Chocolate eyes looked up at him in mischief, as his other newly-freed hand unclasped the leather belt and slowly pulled the zipper down over the tight bulge in Kaiba's pants.   
  
His smirk was absolutely sadistic by this point as he freed the other from his confinements. Head dipping down, he licked the liquid bead from the top of his member with only the very tip of his tongue, then absently traced nonsense patterns all over him until he felt strong hands digging into his scalp, silently begging him.  
  
Kaiba moaned wildly as Bakura took him deep into his mouth, he couldn't help but thrust reflexibly into that hot, wet space. Hands gripped his hips, holding him still as the egyptian thief started moving his head up and down him, creating a gentle suction.  
  
Seto's fingers tightened as Bakura lightly grazed him with his teeth, then harder. He was almost undone when that tongue soothed over the bites.   
  
Kaiba threw his head back, seeing light spots flashing in front of his eyes, could feel the pressure mounting up, winding him tighter, until...  
  
Cool air hit him as Bakura pulled away. Seto blinked dazedly down at the mop of white hair at his waist as his clothes were put back in order.  
  
Pulling the zipper back up, Bakura patted the bulge in Seto's pants as he stood up. "That should do it."  
  
"Huh?" Kaiba blinked again.  
  
The smirk never left his face, nor his eyes, as Bakura turned toward the door. "Goodnight, Kaiba."  
  
Seto gaped at him. "Wha....you..but.."  
  
The thief didn't even turn around as he gave the brunette a cocky wave over his shoulder.  
  
Kaiba snarled.  
  
His carpet needs shampooing, Bakura thought inanely as Kaiba tackled him from behind, dragging them both to the floor. Seto sat up straddling the other's back as he dug his fingers into the other's shoulders, holding him down.  
  
"Don't play games with me," he rasped. "I'm not like your little hikari." His knees tightened around Bakura's thighs. "I bite back, for one thing."  
  
Bakura turned his head to one side so he could breath without a mouthful of carpet. "Fine." He replied calmly.  
  
Seto found himself kissing carpet. I need to get the maid in here tomorrow, he decided. He felt Bakura lean over his back, knees straddling *his* thighs, hands at his waist. "But I'm on top," was breathed into his ear as he earned another painful nip at the back to his neck.  
  
Kaiba found himself quickly stripped of his clothes, as he heard the rustle of cloth from behind telling him Bakura was doing the same to himself.  
  
He blinked and strained his ears, trying to catch a faint sound from behind him. "What are you doing?" He breathed impatiently as he craned his neck to the side as much as he could to see behind him.  
  
His eyes widened as he saw Bakura sucking on a large candy cane. Dark eyes held his and the other slowly pulled the candy in and out of his mouth, a deliberate mime of earlier, which had Kaiba's breath shortening into almost painful gasps.  
  
Finally taking the candy from his mouth, Bakura smiled. "I'm on top," he repeated, "And we're doing this my way." He traced inane patterns on the tense back beneath him with the cane, leaving sticky trails behind which he leisurely licked up. "Mmm, so sweet. Wanna taste?"  
  
The pale body pressed against his back as the proffered confection hovered before his lips. Without hesitating Kaiba took it in his mouth, sucking hard on it, trying to relieve some of the pressure resonating from his lower body.  
  
He licked his lips as the candy was pulled back behind him. "More tangy than anything, I think." He kept an eye on the thief at his back as those eyes once again bore into his. What...?  
  
Those eyes darkened as Bakura smirked widely. What was he...?  
  
Blue eyes widened.  
  
~oO0@0Oo~  
  
Kaiba's reminiscing was rudely interrupted by a harsh knocking from downstairs. He groaned as he rolled out of bed. Mokuba had better not have forgotten his key..  
  
Pulling on last night's pants, he hurried downstairs. Why is the door unanswered? Where were..  
  
He mentally kicked himself. He forgot that it was the servant's day off; stat holiday or something, he mused.  
  
"How many times have I told you...?!" He snapped as he threw open the front door. To his surprise, it wasn't Mokuba; twin sets of amethyst looked up at him.   
  
Yami and Yugi.  
  
"Hi Seto!" Yugi chirped. "Have you seen my candy cane? I lost it last night and we think someone might have accidentally taken it home with them."  
  
Seto stared at him. Of course, he realized belatedly, Bakura always insisted that everything tastes better when it isn't yours..  
  
"Yours?" He asked faintly.   
  
Yami nodded. "Do you have it, Kaiba? We've been looking for it since early this morning."  
  
He moved aside and motioned the two in. Taking the lead, he went into the kitchen. He needed coffee.  
  
"What happened here?!" Yugi exclaimed, taking in the gigantic mess the house was in.  
  
"Mokuba's been banned from pepsi blue." Came the short reply. "Right now he's spending the night at a friends."  
  
"Ah." Yugi nodded. He caught Yami looking at him speculatively. He frowned. "Don't even think it Yami."  
  
The pharoah shrugged. "I doubt it would keep you from it, anyway." He thought of something. "Hey, Kaiba. Do you know what happened to Malik's Yami last night?"  
  
"From what Malik told me, his Yami went chasing after Shadi." Kaiba looked over his shoulder at the dark one. "Apparantly Shadi won his god card in a poker game; Yami Malik insists he cheated and the card is still rightfully his."  
  
"Could take him awhile to catch up with *that* one." Yami mused.  
  
Kaiba agreed. "Malik said that he didn't expect him back anytime soon."  
  
The kitchen seemed to be the only place in the house unaffected by hurricane Mokuba. Yugi hopped up onto a counter stool as Yami simply leaned against by his side. Both looked at him expectantly as he fiddled with the coffee maker.  
  
Sitting down, he wondered how to start. "This, candy cane," he coughed. "Was it, rather large?"  
  
"Mm hm." Yugi nodded, his eyes lighting up excitedly. "It's flavour is really something else, I've been using it for a long time. You can't find those things around here anymore for some reason."  
  
Kaiba desperately tried to exorcise the image of last night that sprung too readily into his mind, only Yugi and Yami in place of him and Bakura.  
"Oh, god." He whimpered, digging the heels of his palms into his eyes.   
  
Looking back up at Yugi was a mistake, he concluded. It was too easy to imagine those big, round, adorable puppy eyes clenched shut from...  
  
He clenched *his* eyes shut to drive the thought away. Think of something else other than those puppy eyes. Puppies. Yapping. Joey. Joey stripdancing, Joey stripdancing, Joey stripdancing... He chanted in his head.  
  
"Are you alright, Seto?" Yugi leaned forward to lay a hand on his forearm.  
  
Unobtrusively shrugging it away, he slammed his head onto the countertop. "God, I haven't even had coffee yet." He muttered.  
  
He could feel Yami's eyes trying to bore into the top of his head.  
  
"So where is it? I assume you've discovered you had it with you." Yami's eyes grew worried. "You didn't throw it out, did you?"  
  
"No, ah," Seto swallowed. How can he say this, exactly? Sorry Yugi, but you might not want your candy anymore?  
  
Just then Bakura and Malik plodded into the room. The sleepy duo flopped down into stools around the counter. "What are you two doing here?" Bakura scowled at them.  
  
Malik just yawned and fell asleep again at the counter. Apparantly two certain boys had made a little too much noise last night and kept him up. He wasn't bitter about it though; what he was sore about was that they didn't invite him to join in.  
  
"We're looking for Yugi's candy cane, and apparantly Kaiba found it." Yami explained to his fellow dark one. "Now we're just trying to find where it is."  
  
"Did Mokuba take it?" Yugi asked Kaiba, who choked on his fresh coffee. Black, of course. Head rolling to the side a little, Malik starting snoring.  
  
"No, I have it." Bakura held up said candy. "But I doubt you want it back now."  
  
Yami's sharp gaze whipped over to him. Yugi looked lost.  
  
"Why wouldn't I want it back? It's my special candy cane!" His eyes grew large. "You didn't eat some of it, did you?" He whispered.  
  
Bakura snorted. "Don't be stupid. I can't stomach sweets."  
  
Both Yami and Yugi relaxed.  
  
"We.."  
  
"There you are!"  
  
Four heads whipped around to see the unexpected sight of Joey and Ryou in the kitchen entryway.   
  
"What the hell happened here? Did Bakura have a snit or something?" Joey gestured back towards the disaster-ridden part of the house.  
  
"Did I *what*?" Bakura snarled.  
  
|Calm down, Yami.| Ryou tried to unsuccessfully soothe his irate dark half.  
  
"What are you doing here, Ryou?" Yugi blinked. "I thought you were sick."  
  
"I am." Ryou walked unsteadily over to the counter, leaning against it for support. "But I need to see the doctor for a prescription; Joey insisted on accompanying me, and I thought we would see if my Yami would like a ride home since we were around here."  
  
Bakura snorted. "Not with you like that. I'm staying right here until there's no way you can infect me." He crossed his arms and glared at his hikari.  
  
Joey shrugged. "Fine by us. We just thought we'd ask, that's all." He came closer to Ryou to lend him a hand standing if he needed it. "I guess we'll see you guys, we gotta make Ryou's appointment."  
  
Just then Ryou spotted the candy cane lying on the counter. "Oh! You did find it!" He exclaimed as he snatched it up. "Yes, this was the one from the coffee table last night. Have you tasted it Yami? It's got the most wonderful taste to it; nice and tangy and smooth." He moved to lick it.  
  
"Ryou!" Yugi said.  
  
Ryou blinked at him. "I just want to taste it again, Yugi. You can clean my germs off afterwards." He put one end in his mouth and sucked a little on it.  
  
"I don't think that's what-" Seto started to say, a little queasy, as Ryou's eyes widened and he pulled the cane out.  
  
"Yugi, you were right! The flavour really *does* evolve!" He looked at the cane amazedly.  
  
"What?" Yugi and Yami said together flatly. Bakura and Seto stared at each other.  
  
"What'cha talking about, Ryou?" Joey was lost now.  
  
Ryou looked up at him. "Last night when I tasted it, it was smooth and tangy. Now it's," he seemed to search for words." It has this sort of, sour flavour blended into it. Reminds me of that soy sauce I use for stir fry."  
  
Seto fell backwards off his stool, spilling hot coffee down the front of his pants. He let out a painful yowl; Bakura just stared at Ryou.  
  
"It's really that good? Lemme try." Joey took the candy from Ryou. Seeing the other four's faces, he said. "Hey, don't worry; Ryou got that cold from me in the first place, remember? I won't get sick again." Yugi tried to say something, but Joey waved him off. "Alright Yug, to keep you from worrying I'll try the other end, okay?" So saying he stuck it in his mouth, sucking on it like Ryou did.  
  
*His* eyes widened as he pulled it from his mouth. "You're crazy, Ryou! It's coffee flavoured! Where'd you get soy sauce from?" He looked weirdly down at the albino-haired boy.  
  
"What flavour would you be, I wonder?" A low voice murmured into his ear from behind. Malik was awake.  
  
Joey let out with a girlish scream and jumped away from the other blond, sketching various religious symbols in the air between them. "Yo! What's the big idea sneaking up on a guy like that? You wanna give someone a heartattack?!" He yelled.  
  
Malik just smiled darkly at him as he closed the distance between them. For every step he took forward Joey backed up three. Malik finally lunged at Joey intending to tackle him, but Joey was already shoving Ryou in his path and rabbiting out through the back door to the yard.  
  
"GET AWWAAAY!!!" He could be heard screaming as Malik simply pushed Ryou aside and gave chase.  
  
The four remaining teens collectively sweatdropped.  
  
Yami and Yugi looked at each other, while Bakura drilled his gaze into the counter and Seto shakily tried to sit back up on his stool. Yami shifted slightly to look piercingly at the two sitting across from him. Yugi turned a deep tomato red.  
  
"Something wrong?" Ryou asked, looking back and forth between the two pairs.  
  
Yami narrowed his eyes. "Nothing, just.." He looked over to Yugi. "I think Bakura's right; I don't think we want that candy cane back."  
  
Yugi pouted. "But.."  
  
"NO MEANS NO! NO MEANS NO! NO MEANS NO!"  
  
Looking towards the open kitchen window where the sound was emanating from, they all saw Joey zip past the kitchen window with Malik close behind.  
  
Bakura snickered.  
  
Ryou sighed. "We really need to be going or I'll miss my appointment." He stood up shakily from his stool, turning to head outside to intercept Joey during his next circle of the house.  
  
"You'll be wasting your time trying to rescue him. Leave him be." Bakura retorted.  
  
"But," Ryou hesitated.  
  
"Don't worry, Ryou." Yugi assured him. "One of us will see him home."  
  
The gentle albino smiled at him gratefully, "Thank you, Yugi. I really need to get to this appointment on time, but I'd hate to leave Joey stranded here. Say goodbye to Joey for me, will you?" So saying, he quietly took his leave.  
  
"You know," Kaiba pondered aloud, "I think it would be best to just, throw that thing away." He eyed the candy cane which had fallen onto the counter in the midst of Joey's flight.  
  
"Agreed."  
  
"I...guess."  
  
"Whatever."  
  
"Good, then it's settled." Kaiba made as if to pick the cane up, but decided against it.   
  
Yami and Yugi got up to leave. "We should be going too. Could you guys give Joey a ride home?" Yugi asked the brunette.  
  
Kaiba nodded. "Don't worry about him. He seems to be in..good hands right now." He grinned over at the window, as Joey and Malik made another lap past.  
  
"So what do we do now, Yami? We don't have the candy cane anymore." Yugi asked Yami as they walked to the front door.  
  
"I'll find us another aibou."  
  
"Just like that one?" Yugi pleaded.  
  
Sigh. "Just like that one."  
  
"The only trouble will be having to wear down that hook again."  
  
"I always thought that was the best part of it..."  
  
Kaiba shook his head, willing his ears to block out whatever else might come from their direction.  
  
Bakura stood up slowly, running his hand across Seto's back as he headed towards the hall as well.  
  
"Where are you going?" Seto raised an eyebrow.  
  
"Shower." Bakura smirked over his shoulder at the brunette. "Are you going to join me or not?"  
  
Kaiba smiled darkly as he quickly crossed the kitchen floor to catch up with the albino yami. Their footsteps echoed across the floor as they went upstairs, and the distinctive sound of a door shutting could be heard.  
  
Minutes later running footsteps pounded down the stairs as a wet Seto Kaiba dashed into the kitchen clutching a towel around his waist, dripping water all over the floor.   
  
Snatching up the candy cane he pelted back down the hallway and up the stairs.   
  
"It'll come clean in the shower." He muttered to himself.  
  
-----------------------------------------------------------  
  
Yami R: @_@  
  
A/N: *fans Yami R with script* ...hehe, oops? ^_^;; I think I kinda overworked her here. Well, I guess that's not all that surprising, since this whole thing was born from a mental image of Joey with a noodle strainer on his head. Poor Yami...  
  
A/N: So, whatcha think? I know, I know, it doesn't have any actual *explicit* lemon in here, but I was on a deadline for this so I had to rush it a bit. But I think it works with the story itself, you know?   
  
*Sigh* I'll try harder for my next lemon, how about that? Better?   
  
So, lemme know what you thought! I'm always trying to improve my style, and advise/suggestions on improvements I could make are always welcome! ^_^ 


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